VISION

AUDIO

DATELINE STING

INTRO

MONTAGE

 

Pictures of agricultural workers in PPE, empty supermarket shelves etc.

 

 

VO: The Coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the way we live

 

VO: Social distancing and business closures have severely stressed global food supply lines

 

VO: In Europe, restrictions on movement mean farm workers are in short supply and food is at risk of rotting in the fields

 

VO: In the developing world,

food is available but increasing poverty means many can’t buy it

 

VO: Whilst in Australia, we have a glut of workers to pick our crops and stock our shelves – at least for now.

 

PROGRAM TITLE: PANDEMIC FARMING

Will Reid, Colin Cosier

 

AUSTRALIA #1

TITLE 1: AUSTRALIA

TITLE 2: Orange, NSW

PICS: big drone rural landscape

 

INT – CAR – DAY

 

A car drives through beautiful rolling countryside. Inside the car, Will Reid gives a PTC

 

PICS

AUS D2 [00:08:34] WILL PTC

AUS D2 - 0:00 - EXT car + GVs

Old photo of Will

AUS D1 DRONE

AUS D2 JOEL DRONE

 

 

 

AUS D2 [00:08:34] WILL PTC: My family have farmed the land around here for generations.  And before I got a job in the media <insert baby farmer Will pic>, so did I.

 

VO: SO, WHEN I HEARD THAT COVID 19 IS CAUSING PROBLEMS FOR FARMERS – I WAS CONCERNED

 

VO: Australia farmers were already struggling

 

VO: Years of drought had brought many on the land to their knees

 

VO: And then there was the worst bushfire season on record.

 

VO: SO HOW ARE THEY - AND THEIR WORKERS - COPING WITH THE PANDEMIC?

 

EXT – APPLE FARM – DAY

 

WILL meets a group of backpackers who have just arrived at a farm

 

PICS

AUS D1C1

AUS D1C2

AUS D2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AUS D2 - Packing shed

 

AUS D1C1

[00:00:55] WILL: Morning. 

[00:01:08] WILL: So, this is a nice, brisk morning.

 

VO: These young backpackers are about to start a day’s work picking apples.

 

AUS D1C1

[00:04:38] WILL: So, when did you find out that you were picking here?

[00:04:43] EVERYONE: Yesterday. 

 

[00:04:50] HARRY: It's all pretty last minute what farms we get put onto.

 

VO: Many fruit and vegetable farms in Australia rely on cheap foreign labour to harvest their crops.

 

EXT – APPLE FARM – DAY

 

WILL joins the a group of backpackers as they wait to start their shift on the farm

 

PICS

AUS D1C1

AUS D1C1 [00:15:36] TIM: Morning. 

[00:15:38] WILL: Morning

 

VO: The man who lined up the work for them is local contractor Tim Priest.

 

[00:24:40] TIM: You're the idiot that wore shorts. Like seriously. I've got thermals on and everything.

[00:04:00] HARRY: (Laughing). I saw that it was going to be 20 degrees and so I wore some shorts. 

 

VO: The backpackers are all on one year working visas.

 

[00:38:31] TIM: four on each tractor and i'll take you up and get you started

 

VO: Doing farm work like this helps them earn the chance to extend their visas for another year.

 

[39:54] WILL: would you call this the daily commute?

 

VO: And helps farmers stay afloat

EXT. – APPLE ORCHARD – DAY

 

WILL interviews TIM PRIEST in the orchard

 

PICS

AUS D1C1

 

AUS D1C1 Will (01:20:13): How many workers have you got across, working right now for you?

Tim (01:20:16): We've got about 50 on still. Yeah. Um, cause we're at the tail end of the season. It sort of slowed down a little bit

Will: (01:16:23) so why don't you get local Australians to do this job?

Tim: (01:11:30) They're just not motivated enough to be honest. /// (01.11:55) Whereas with the backpackers// every day there's work, they'll be at work

Will: (01:16:33) So we're a lazy bunch.

Tim: (01:12:04) Um, locals are hopeless honestly.

 

VO: Fruit picking is hard labour.  It’s poorly paid... yet it takes some skill and care.

 

[01:21:36] TIM: they’re pretty good but just be careful there are a few bruises on them

 

VO: In Australia, finding good workers is a perennial problem.

VO: I’d assumed the pandemic would have made things worse for Tim.

VO: After all, you can’t really work from home as an apple picker.

Tim: (01:02:07) Well it was actually positive because before the Coronavirus, like we were struggling to get enough pickers and then as soon as the Corona virus hit, like I could have been putting on maybe 300 people a day if I had the work for them. Like, cause everyone in Sydney and Melbourne obviously were losing their jobs in hospitality and that sort of stuff. And you know, first basically then the next natural step that we're taking was to start looking for farm work.

SO WITH A SUDDEN INFLUX OF PEOPLE SEEKING FARM WORK

TIM STRUGGLED TO PLACE BACKPACKERS IN JOBS

AND THEN, THERE WAS A NEW KIND OF DISCRIMINATION

Tim: (01:05:56) quite a few farmers who pretty much told us they only want local people.

CRASH into news report UPSOT

 

CLIP: BondiBackpackers FB

 

 

 

 

 

 

CLIP: 9 News Sydney - Bondi now Sydney's coronavirus hotspot

 

NEWS SOT: Police are cracking down on foreign backpackers accused of spreading coronavirus through Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

 

VO: As infections spread across Australia, partying backpackers became national news.

 

NEWS SOT: Bondi is a coronavirus hotspot. “We’ve seen cases among backpackers, particularly related to parties and so on.”

INT - CAR - DAY

 

WILL and BEN drive in a car, chatting.

 

PICS

AUS GOPRO CAR

AUS GOPRO CAR POV

AUS D1 DRONE [17:30] Orange

AUS D2 [0:00] Orange GVs

 

VO: It seems backpackers everywhere were tainted by the actions of a few

AND THESE GUYS FOUND THEMSELVES AS GOOD AS EXILED

AUS GOPRO CAR

[00:01:00] WILL: so what are your thoughts about Orange?

[00:01:03] BEN: It seems like a nice place I have to say

[00:01:28] WILL: And what have the locals been like to you?

[00:01:32] BEN: Mixed reviews, we haven't really met that many. Some have been nice. But the first day we arrived // we felt like we'd just walked into some really wrong place because someone said to us "f-ing backpackers" .. (laughs)

[00:02:04] WILL: wow, that's not very welcoming.

[00:02:06] BEN: Not very welcoming, no.

 

EXT - SHOWGROUNDS - DAY

 

BEN tells WILL about his experience of camping in the showgrounds

 

PICS

AUS D1C2 [00:50:21] arriving 

AUS D1C2 [00:51:21] showgrounds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

01:02:34:22 - good tap close up

VO: Ben and his friends first camped on a farm where they were working.

 

VO: But when the pandemic struck, the farmer asked them to leave.

 

AUS D1C2 Ben: (56:49) So this is where we arrived, uh, after getting kicked off the farm. Um, we just arrived, kind of set up camp the eight of us, just in a small circle.

 

VO: Orange doesn’t have a backpackers’ hostel, so with nowhere to go, they were given permission to pitch their tents at the showgrounds in town.

 

Will: (57:09) And what kind of amenities did you have here?

Ben: (57:10) We had very little, I have to say we just had running water.

Ben: (53:13) no toilets. No shower. Though. So we kind of kind of like leaning under these taps just to kinda get a little bit of a water shower going. Um, and then we'd have about half an hour walk into town to go to the toilet or we'd take the car if there was enough of us.

Will: (53:25) That's dire.

Ben: (53:27) very disappointing.

 

VO: Some locals tried to scare them off by honking their horns and yelling verbal abuse as they drove past.  One morning, the group woke up to find their water had been cut off.

 

FARM CONTRACTOR TIM CAME TO THE RESCUE AND FOUND THEM A HOUSE TO SHARE

 

01:02:04:01 Will: i must say after a hard day of picking apples, to come back here and wash under a tap. Ben: horrendous

 

THIS TREATMENT WAS ENOUGH TO MAKE SOME OF THE BACKPACKERS  CONSIDER GOING HOME.

 

AND IF AUSTRALIA RUNS LOW ON BACKPACKERS, FARMERS WILL STRUGGLE TO PICK THE NEXT CROP OF FRUIT AND VEG

 

 

EXT - BUSH - DAY

 

WILL walking through the bush PTC

-       AUS D2 [01:41:51]-[01:43:54] 

-       AUS D2 JOEL DRONE

 

 

VO. GERMANY ALSO RELIES ON FOREIGN WORKERS TO GET ITS FOOD OUT OF THE FIELDS AND INTO SUPERMARKETS.

 

BUT IT DOESN’T HAVE A READY SUPPLY OF WILLING BACKPACKERS.

 

VO: EACH YEAR, ABOUT 300,000 SEASONAL FARM WORKERS FROM EASTERN EUROPE COME TO GERMANY

 

BUT AS COVID-19 KICKED OFF, THE GOVERNMENT BANNED THEM FROM ENTERING THE COUNTRY.

 

FARMERS WERE LEFT TO WATCH THEIR CROPS AND LIVELIHOODS WITHER IN THE FIELDS

 

EXT - MOUNTAIN TOP - DAY

WILL makes a phone call

-       AUS D2

-       AUS D2 JOEL DRONE

VO: I can’t go to Germany, so a local filmmaker is filming the other end of this phone call.

 

GERMANY

TITLE 1: GERMANY

TITLE 2: THURINGIA REGION

PICS: drone

 

phone ring sound continues

EXT – ASPARAGUS FARM – DAY

 

Farmer JAN, standing in his asparagus field, speaks to WILL on the phone.

 

PICS

GERMANY 300420

GERMANY 050520

AUS D2

 

 

 

DRONE

 

 

 

 

 

JAN: good morning from Germany

WILL: Hello Jan

WILL: GERMANY 300420 - 00:21:28:16: Hi

 

VO: Jan is an asparagus farmer

 

WILL: AUS D2 [1.46.55] so how has covid-19 affected your operation ?

 

Jan: GERMANY 300420  [00:23:24] /// This year due to the Corona pandemic it has been an extreme challenge,/// [00:24:02] because it was not clear if we would even be able to harvest.

 

EACH YEAR JAN RELIES ON ROMANIAN WORKERS, WHO IN THE LEAD UP THIS HARVEST, WEREN’T ALLOWED IN

 

BUT FACING BACKLASH THE GOVERNMENT DID A BACKFLIP AND OPENED THE BORDERS

 

AND THERE WAS A RUSH TO GET WORKERS HERE

 

Jan: [00:38:32] /// busses couldn't cross the Hungarian or Austrian borders [00:39:01] the only possibility we had was to fly people in and obviously the costs to charter an entire plane are vastly different than when people travel with a bus.

 

 

 

V LIB 100420 RTV HEALTH CORONAVIRUS GERMANY HARVEST WORKERS  

VO: JAN CHARTERED A PLANE FOR HIS WORKERS at a huge personal cost

 

VO: An extreme measure for unprecedented times.

 

BUT HE’S STILL VASTLY UNDERSTAFFED

 

EXT – ASPARAGUS FARM – DAY

 

Farmer JAN, standing in his asparagus field, speaks to WILL on the phone.

 

PICS

GERMANY 300420

GERMANY 050520

AUS D2

 

Jan GERMANY 300420 - [00:39:31] and normally we have 350 seasonal workers but this we are missing 200, and that means for us that we have to harvest a smaller area, we couldn't harvest everything

 

Will AUS D2  (01:49:06) So your salary is essentially sitting in the paddock in front of you. Are you stressed?

 

Jan: [50:31] Every day is very stressful /// 

I am permanently stressed [51:30]  ///

[49:00] when we couldn't harvest we would wouldn't have any income and no income means after two hard years of drought the end of the company

 

Will  US D2 (01:48:46) So why not Germans? Why use Eastern Europeans and Romanians to do this work?

 

Jan: [00:44:24] It's a very hard job, it is very physically demanding, and for the Germans the motivation isn't the same as the Romanians, and the motivation is money. In Germany we have a different living standard /// Germans have become somewhat comfortable and don't really want to do the kind of work

 

EXT – ASPARAGUS FARM – DAY

 

See workers in the field, then meet ANTON

 

PICS

GERMANY 300420

GERMANY 050520

VO: Even the Romanians agree that picking the humble asparagus isn’t for everyone…

 

ANTON [1:24:01:21] It’s hard work. It’s very hard work but they are used to working – and the majority are from the countryside.

EXT – FARM – DAY

 

Various of Romanians working, then ANTON organising his people on the farm and on the bus

 

PICS

GERMANY 300420

GERMANY 050520

VO: Anton is the Romanian supervisor on the farm.

 

VO: AFTER ARRIVING BY PLANE,      ANTON AND HIS CO-WORKERS ARE IN 14 DAYS OF QUARANTINE

 

VO: The Romanians work the field and must remain distanced from other farm workers

 

VO: But some of the new rules are apparently hard to follow.

 

JAN GERMANY 300420 [00:15:21] We have to take care that everyone on the bus is always wearing their mask,

 

JAN [00:16:33]  you're allowed to earn some money, we're allowed to earn some money, and we can't risk that because we're sitting in the bus and don't have a marks on

 

EXT - ACCOMMODATION BLOCK - DAY

 

ANTON give an interview outside of his workers’ accommodation block

 

PICS

GERMANY 300420

VO: The workers are being housed in an isolated old Army barracks

 

VO: For quarantine reasons our filmmaker can’t go inside, so Anton meets him outside

LUKE GERMANY 300420 [02:44:52:00]: How is it to live here?

 

ANTON [02:44:58:22]: The conditions are... what they are. Not too bad, but not too good either. For some, they’re probably better than at home. For others, no.

 

LUKE: [2:46:41:22] Why do you come to Germany for this work?

 

ANTON [2:46:56:10]: To help German agriculture! (laughs). For money ///

ANTON [03:00:59:13]: I don’t want to exaggerate../// it’s... double... triple... considerable!

 

VO: Anton and his colleagues are feeding Germany… but this work also helps them feed their families back in Romania.

 

LUKE [2:58:39] How do you feel now that Germany sees Enterhaffer [seasonal workers] as so important?

 

ANTON [2:59:00] My heart fills with pride! I’m proud to be a Romanian who is praised, because we didn’t use to be!

 

AUSTRALIA #2

TITLE 1: AUSTRALIA

PICS: big farm landscapes

music change

 

EXT – APPLE ORCHARD – DAY

 

WILL and farmer FIONA walk and talk in the apple orchard

 

PICS

AUS D2

AUS D1 DRONE

AUS D2 JOEL DRONE

VO: Back on the apple orchard, I meet the boss.

 

AUS D2 - WILL: (09:09) So how many, how many acres do you, do you run here?

FIONA: (09:11) ah 250 acres of apples and cherries.

 

VO: Fiona Hall has worked this property IN NSW for twenty years.

 

WILL: (09:37) And, and how would you, how would you describe the season this far?

 

FIONA: (11:09) It's been tough cause we've had big water issue problems, enough water storage. Our bores went dry and beginning of this season we actually ran out on this farm of water.  and then you throw COVID on top of all that and it's been pretty tough. Yeah, it hasn't been

VO: in the packing sheds, social distancing is another headache to contend with

 

INT – PACKING SHED – DAY

 

WILL interviews FIONA in the packing shed

 

PICS:

AUS D1C2

[00:34:27] WILL: So what have we got in here?

[00:34:27] FIONA: We're packing Pink Lady's today.

 

[00:36:00] W: And how many people do you have working in this space now?

[00:36:04] F: Around 20 here today. 15 - 20 is usually for our apples. Come cherry time in our cherry shed, we'll probably put between 70 and 90.

[00:36:17] W: 70 and 90? Wow.

[00:36:28] W: So 70 and 90. Is it possible to enforce social distancing?

[00:36:33] F: Impossible. It's a very tight shed. People have to work close together

 

[00:40:29] W: Do you think we've truly felt the effects of COVID in operations like this?

[00:37:31 F: I think the effects of COVID is still to come for us as far as labour that we will require in a few months’ time.

 

EXT – APPLE ORCHARD – DAY

 

Various backpackers respond to WILL’S questions

 

PICS

AUS D1C1

AUS D2

VO: FIONA NEEDS UP TO 90 WORKERS COME SUMMER HARVEST, BUT SHE’S CONCERNED BACKPACKERS WILL HAVE LEFT BY THEN, WITH NO NEW ARRIVALS TO FILL THEIR PLACES

 

AUS D1C1 Florian: (51:33) treat them like eggs, otherwise we don't get paid.

 

VO: Apple season ends in a few days… and so does the work for NOW

VO: these guys are only making about 70 dollars a day

 

VO: And with no jobs in the cities and limited farm work available, they’re facing some tough decisions

 

AUS D2 Love (01:08:45): I've had thoughts about going back home ///  (01:08:27) we haven't been able to save up money at all really. /// (01:11:13) as of right now, things are looking pretty grim

 

AUS D2 German girl (01:15:39): if I have to go and if I don't find another job, then I will go home, but /// (01:15:11) I don't really want to go home because /// (01:15:24) because I think in Germany the situation is way worse than it is here.

 

Will: (51:54) this kind of fruit picking work. Would you do this in Germany?

Florian: (51:59) Probably not. No. No.

 

vo: Almost a third of all backpackers have left the country since the start of the coronavirus outbreak,

a concerning statistic for Fiona

 

EXT – FARM HOUSE – DAY

 

WILL interviews FIONA at her farm house

 

PICS:

AUS D1C2

Will: (32:21) the season's almost over. Are you, are you worried that you won't get these workers back later in the year?

Fiona: (32:29) Yes. Worried that these guys will go, but also the ones that were due to come in /// (10:26) will not be available, you know, so, um, our biggest worry will be going into the next, the next crop /// (19:30) it could be really scary. I mean, it's going to be, there'd be nothing more devastating than having a beautiful crop of cherries and you can't get, can't get them harvested.

 

VO: Getting fruit off the tree is only half the problem. Once picked, it needs to be sold

 

VO: But the pandemic has disrupted global freight and supply lines

 

VO: And that’s a big concern for producers like Fiona

 

Fiona (15:18): If we don't have an export market for our cherries and come cherry season, // if we don't export into China or into Southeast Asia our normal markets, then we're going to have a very flooded domestic market Um, and it'll be a disaster

 

 

 

FOOD EXPERT

ARCHIVE EXPLAINER ON FOOD SUPPLY ISSUES

 

Archive needs

-       grounded planes

-       closed ports

-       shipping

-       travel bans

-       closed businesses

-       third world hunger/markets/food

-       poor workers

 

-        

 

 

AUSTRALIA’S CONCERNS ARE NOT ABOUT FOOD SECURITY.

 

WE PRODUCE MORE FOOD THAN WE CONSUME

 

BUT THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME PREDICTS THAT 265 MILLION PEOPLE COULD BE PUSHED TO ACUTE FOOD INSECURITY BECAUSE OF COVID-19

 

But it’s about access to food... and the ability to buy it, rather than farming.

 

TITLE 1: SYDNEY

 

EXT – CITY FARM – DAY

 

WILL interviews food expert ALANA MANN

 

PICS

AUS D3 FS7

AUS D3 A7S

 

 

 

 

LIB 120520 RTV HEALTH CORONAVIRUS PHILIPPINES 

 

CLIP: DZRH NEWS twitter video

On-screen attribution: @dzrhnews

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LIB 290420 RTV HEALTH CORONAVIRUS AUSTRALIA URBAN FARMS.MP4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UPSOT: Alana and Will walk n talk

 

VO: Associate Professor Alana Mann is a key researcher in the University of Sydney’s Environment Institute.

 

Alana: I think that a lot of people who are already living in countries where food insecurity is a major problem, are going to be the big victims of covid.

 (10:09) What's happened in countries, like for example, the Philippines, there's been a serious crackdown obviously under the guise of social distancing on everyday vendors and the informal economy. So the fresh food markets for example. And // using this as an opportunity to really crack down on freedoms.

 

VO: Richer nations are less likely to go hungry, but COVID has exposed some cracks in the production process.

 

Meaning some food is going to waste as it gets stuck in the supply chain.

 

Alana (21:54): I think what COVID has really exposed in terms of global food chains is the fact that they are not very resilient and that they're also very much geared around this just in time ideology that really means that you don't want to be able to, or you don't want to have to store food for a long time. You want the food to come from the port, go directly to the supermarket shelves and then to the consumer /// (24:11) and when you have a very long and complicated supply chain like that, it's very easy for things to go wrong


VO: Australia really is the lucky country when it comes to food

 

BUT IF FARMERS’ LIVELIHOODS ARE CONTINUALLY PUT UNDER STRAIN; WILL WE ALWAYS BE SO LUCKY?

 

Will: (12:54) would it be easy for Australia to become complacent?

Alana: (13:00) I think complacency is a major factor because I think that aside from everybody's panic over toilet rolls, I didn't hear the same panic around food stuffs.

Alana: (47:45) You know, where Australia does have a problem, not so much in our farms but in our supermarkets /// (43:04) they are actually bringing prices down, down, down, as they like to say. But that also brings farmers income down /// (47:09) that farm gate price that the farmers get is what will enable them also to be resilient in difficult times. They also need to have savings so that they can weather covid or the drought or whatever the next crisis is.

 

COMING UP

 

 

VO: Coming up…

 

VO: The UK is calling up a citizen army… but are the Brits up to the backbreaking farm work?

 

1.27.48 JASON I never thought I'd ever be in the field gathering this lovely crop. Never. But I'm very thankful for it. Very thankful.

 

ENGLAND

TITLE 1: ENGLAND

TITLE 2:  Suffolk

PICS:: UK CARD 1 & 2 or file

 

ENGLAND + GFX

 

ARCHIVE: UK farms under pandemic

 

 

DRONE:

FARM FILE VISION > UK FARM SHOTS > UK FARM DRONE >

-          DJI_0194.MP4

-          DJI_0200.MP4

 

UK CARD 2 starts with foreign workers

 

 

 

 

 

SUPER: GEORGE EUSTICE, UK Environment Secretary

 

 

Prince Charles video

SUPER: Charles, Prince of Wales

Attribution: @clarencehouse

 

 

 

LIB 210420 RTV HEALTH CORONAVIRUS BRITAIN FARMING

-       2.02 Pick for Britain archive

 

 

Like Australia, England is a prosperous country.  But food wise, it only produces half of what it consumes.

 

Vo: It’s not only reliant on food imports, but also foreign labour.

 

VO: And before the pandemic, Brexit was ALREADY causing labour shortages from Europe.

 

VO: Now coronavirus travel bans have made the situation critical.

 

FILE SOT: (1:20) But one thing is clear, and that is that this year we will need to rely on British workers to lend a hand to help bring that harvest home."

 

“This is why that great movement of the second world war - the land army - is being rediscovered in the newly created pick for Britain campaign.

 

VO: Pick for Britain is an initiative to get everyday Brits working on farms

 

Cow upsot

 

DURING WORLD WAR TWO  -  WHEN MEN WENT OFF TO WAR 80,000 WOMEN WERE RECRUITED TO WORK ON FARMS. AND THE WOMEN’S LAND ARMY BECAME A SOURCE OF NATIONAL PRIDE

 

VO: NOW - The National Farmers Union says 70 to 80 thousand workers are needed to harvest the country’s crops. – FILLING THE GAP LEFT BY EUROPEAN WORKERS

 

VO: IF THE GAP CAN’T BE FILLED homegrown fruit and vegetables risk rotting in the fields, AND FARMERS RISK GOING BUST

 

EXT – ASPARAGUS FARM – DAY

EXT – MOUNTAIN TOP – DAY

 

Farmer BRUCE KERR in the field

 

PICS

UK CARD 1

UK CARD 2

-       US D2

-       AUS D2 JOEL DRONE

 

UPSOT: UK CARD 1 (01.57) BRUCE - Not as hot as last week but it's certainly going to be warmer.

2.01 MAN IN BLUE - Better than rain

2.02 BRUCE - Better than rain

 

VO: Again, we’ve got a local filmmaker covering this of us

UPSOT phone

 

VO: British asparagus farmer Bruce Kerr IS GIVING LOCAL WORKERS A GO

 

EXT – ASPARAGUS FARM – DAY

 

BRUCE, standing in his asparagus field, speaks on the phone to WILL

 

PICS

UK CARD 1

UK CARD 2

AUS D2

 

BRUCE: UK CARD 1 (16:55) it all came about with a tweet that we put out on Twitter, um, asking for people to help ///

(17:14) and within a matter of hours, well, probably minutes, we had, um, huge response to that. ///

(37:25) you know we thought we might get 20 or 30 responses and we ended up with over 300, um, in that initial week

W: wow!

 

WILL [AUS D2] (02:03:15) So what kind of people did you get from that call out?

 

BRUCE (18:00): We've just got a very broad mix of, um, of people would have, some of them have been furloughed from their jobs. /// (18:13) We've got two chefs /// (18:27) we've got some students /// (19:34) so there's a real variety of, um, of guys we've got working for us

 

WILL [AUS D2] (02:03:43)  Are they cutting the mustard?

 

BRUCE: (18:46) Yeah, they're going really well. Um, really good team spirit. Um, and it's, it's working really well.

 

WILL [AUS D2] (02:06:42)  it, is it just about people finding jobs or are there bigger motivations at play?

 

BRUCE: (34:29) I think there's a, there is a great, um, sense of people wanting to help the country wanting to help the nation. /// (34:45) particularly if they're unable to go back to their normal day to day working lives

 

UK CARD 2 [00:13:11] PD. you a fan of asparagus?

[00:13:12] jaz. yeah i love asparagus it's really good. but it did make your pee stink.

[00:13:40] PD. what's the best thing about the job and what's the worst thing

[00:13:44] Jaz: the worst thing is the early mornings, definitely. the best thing is being outside. and when it's sunny you can get a tan.

VO: Bruce’s concern now is that once the lockdowns end, his workers will go back to their normal jobs.

 

VO: But for the moment, he’s grateful.

 

WILL [AUS D2] (02:09:45) and what would it mean for you if you couldn't get those workers?

 

BRUCE: (37:47) We would have probably taken the decision that actually some of the fields, we just wouldn't pick at all this year and we’d have left them to grow on for next year.

 

WILL: (42:26)  Well, Lucky the Brits came through. Right.

BRUCE: (42:30) Yeah. Surprised even you Aussies, I'd expect?

 

EXT – ASPARAGUS FARM – DAY

 

JASON picks asparagus while walking behind a tractor, answering questions from PD Olly

 

PICS

UK CARD 1

 

 

 

VO: One of the Brits that answered the call to work was Jason

 

UK CARD 1

1.21.45 OLLY - So Jason how long is your asparagus picking career lasted so far?

1.21.49 JASON - I think it's about 3rd week in now. Yeah so tough 3 weeks.

1.21.59 OLLY - Does it make you like asparagus more or less?

1.22.03 JASON - We respect it more. I've cooked enough of it.

 

VO: Jason’s a local chef and father of three who lost his job due to the pandemic.

 

VO: As a new asparagus picker, he’s expected to walk up to six kilometres in a day and bend over about 20,000 times.

 

1.23.45 JASON - It took about 3 or 4 days for us to, for the body to recuperate and realise hang on a minute there's different muscles being used here, you know

1.27.15 JASON - So the bottom part of the back gets you really there. And underneath the top part of the legs, underneath the cheeks. so you have a bit of a stretch and carry on

 

1.27.48 JASON But I never thought I'd ever be in the field gathering this lovely crop. Never. But I'm very thankful for it. Very thankful.

1.28.05 OLLY -For the money or the experience?

1.28.07 JASON - I think both. You know there is uncertainty coming.

 

WITH BRITAIN STILL FIGURING OUT HOW BREXIT WILL IMPACT LABOUR SHORTAGES - AT LEAST THE PANDEMIC HAS GIVEN JASON SOME FAITH IN HIS COUNTRY’S MOTTO – KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON

 

1.44.41 JASON - Experiencing this, this has proven to me it doesn't matter where you are, who you know and what age you are. If it's needed I think Brits will come together and get us through the Brexit, no problem.

 

EXT – JASON’ HOME – DAY

 

JASON plays ball with his son in the backyard, answering questions from Olly

 

PICS

UK CARD 2

 

UPSOT [00:45:56] Jason: oh good save

[00:46:39] Jason "It's just nice winding down after the old asparagus picking. nice to be upright."

VO: JASON IS THANKFUL TO BE EARNING A WAGE AND HELPING HIS COUNTRY - BUT asparagus picking doesn’t pay as well as Jason’s old job AS A CHEF

VO: His wife is also out of work.

Jason (38:52): With the help of people that we know and we rent through, they've give us grace periods, otherwise we would be, yeah, we'd be quite well in debt without a doubt. You know,You know, it's that raw where you, you know, we focus on the children, making sure they're okay, um, food on the table. But, uh, yeah, the little luxuries that you're used to aren't there anymore. It makes you really appreciate the smaller things in life and what, what, what counts in life and what's important.

 

[00:49:50] Jason: "well done super star"

CONCLUSION

run vision of all characters from all countries in a final, wrap-up montage.

 

 

 

IT’S NOT JUST APPLES FROM ORANGE AND ASPARAGUS FROM EUROPE THAT HAS felt the brunt of the pandemic

wool growers are hurting from a fashion industry spooked by recession.

AND - AUSTRALIA IS NOW GOING INTO BATTLE WITH CHINA OVER BARLEY TARIFFS AND BANS ON MEAT EXPORTS

CORONAVIRUS IS IMPACTING US IN SO MANY WAYS, BIG AND SMALL

AND WE’LL CONTINUE TO FEEL IT AT HOME, AT WORK, IN OUR WALLETS, AND ON OUR PLATES.

 

CREDITS

You can watch all of Dateline's episodes on: SBS On Demand,

 

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